The common theme among all these guys I’ve written about, aside from my good fortune of being their teammate, is a great admiration I’ve had for them as intelligent men of high character. They were all great football players, that’s a given, but they all stood out as leaders by way of their action. They did less talking but more “walkling”. They worked hard, performed at the highest level, and competed every day for a shot at a starting job. Then, when they got there, they remained grounded and became outstanding examples for the young guys behind them. They showed from their actions how to go about your business and always put the team first. It’s no surprise that these guys have all gone on to leadership positions in their chosen fields and have remained successful while being held in high regard by their coworkers. You’ve heard the term “Captains of Industy”. They all fit that description.

This next guy fits it to a tee. He came into the program a highly sought after QB, with lofty education and athletic goals. He was a hard worker by nature, liked by all his coaches and teammates, and handled one of the most pressure packed moments you could imagine. He went on to marry a Michigan women, further his education with TWO master's degrees, and is now an administrator at one of the most respected health care providers in the entire world.

Russ Rein grew up in Oak Lawn Illinois, having played for Marist High School. He was recruited by just about every school, including Alabama, Duke, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, and Brigham Young. Clearly academics played a major factor in his college decision.

When he visited Michigan, he planned on becoming a doctor, either a physician or ophthalmologist. When he arrived for his visit, he was taken to a house of an ophthalmologist who worked for the university hospital. There were almost a dozen other doctors present who all came out to greet the prized recruit. (Another example of a page Harbaugh took right from Bo’s playbook). Of course a young kid with medical aspirations would be awed by the “chance” meeting, but it was deeper than that for Russ. He saw the collective dedication to excellence that permeated the room; the presence of brilliant doctors who had great respect for their field and their fellow doctors. To say it left an impression would be an understatement. That moment would resonate with him in his life after college football.

While he was taking his time narrowing his college choices, Bo was seeking an answer. Time was of the essence, and solidifying the roster was no less stressful for coaches then as it is now. Being the kind of guy who wouldn’t make a hasty decision, Russ planned a visit to Provo Utah to tour Brigham Young and meet with legendary Coach Lavelle Edwards. Bo had other plans. He wanted a commitment. He called Russ and used the tried and true recruiting tactic that still gets used today: “Son, we have limited scholarships available and if you take that visit, I'm afraid we’ll have to give your scholarship to someone else.” If Russ felt intimidated or pressured, he didn’t show it. “I’ll think about it and get back to you” he said as he hung up the phone. Ballsy move for an 18 year old. Ballsy but not risky. Russ knew as soon as he hung up the phone he was going to Michigan. Shortly thereafter, he called the old man back and pledged his allegiance to the Wolverines.

He arrived on campus in 1983 as part of a stable of QBs that included Steve Smith, Rich Hewlett, Jim Harbaugh, and Chris Zurbrugg. That’s a crowded room. Smith and Hewlett were seniors but Harbaugh had 4 more years of eligibility. Today, a highly rated quarterback might look at that roster and seek a more convenient path to the playing field. Not Russ. He had been a hard worker his whole life, clocking hours at his parent’s convenience store on the southside of Chicago since he was a young boy. He wanted the challenge that Michigan offered, both athletically and academically.

His first game action came sooner than he and just about everyone associated with Michigan expected. October 6, 1984. Ranked #13 in the country with a 3-1 record and facing in-state rival Michigan State in the Big House. You all know what happened. Trailing 13-7 midway through the 3rd quarter but with the ball and driving, Jamie Morris got hit and fumbled at the 35 yard line. Harbaugh dove for the loose ball at the same time a State defender got there. Broken arm. His season over.

Next man up: Russ Rein.

Talk about sudden change. One minute you’re standing on the sideline, casually watching the game, confident Harbaugh would lead the team for the go-ahead score then - snap - Bo yells, “Rein! Come here.”

Russ said he wasn’t really nervous when he entered the game. He was excited yet calm, though admittedly not quite as prepared as he would’ve liked. As a matter of fact, he recalls staying up quite late at the hotel the night before, studying for a final the following week. Lack of sleep for a football player at Michigan knee deep in academics isn’t really a unique problem. But things change when you’re suddenly thrust into the starting QB position unexpectedly.

As everyone knows, the game didn’t turn out the way we would have liked. Russ’ first pass was a long out route intended for Vince Bean on the opposite sideline. The cornerback broke on the route and made a hell of a play on the ball.

His first collegiate attempt was intercepted. It was that kind of day.

*********************

Funny story about that Michigan State game: as already mentioned, Russ’ family owned a store in Chicago. Three or four times a week, this nice old man named Mr. Ortho Cortz would come in to get a coffee and a newspaper. He’d always have a smile, say hello to Russ and his brothers, then go on his way. He’d been a regular customer for years. When Russ trotted onto the field for the first time in that Michigan State game, an official walked over, tapped him on the shoulder, and with a wink said, “Good luck, son.” To Russ’ surprise, it was Mr. Cortz, head of Big 10 officials, and referee for that game. In all the years Russ saw him at the store, he never knew he was a football official.

*********************
Practice the following week was grueling. We had a lot of work to do on both sides of the ball. Bo needed to get one of his QBs up to speed while the defense needed to figure out how to get off the field. By the time toe met leather the next week, it was #3 under center. He led us to a convincing 31-0 win over Northwestern in front a much happier Michigan Stadium crowd. In that game, Russ threw his first career touchdown pass to Tight End Eric Kattus. Guys like Kattus, Eddie Garrett, Rick Rogers, Clay Miller, and Art Balourdos were all instrumental in helping Russ prepare for the game and kept encouraging him during it. It was a great feeling leading the team to victory and hanging 31 points on the scoreboard.

*********************

Another interesting thing in that game: Russ faced a familiar old foe in Northwestern LB Jim Torkelson. The two had faced each other in the Illinois High School Football playoffs two years prior. Torkelson’s Homewood Flossmore team was leading Marist late in the game, but Russ had his team driving. In the last minute, as he dropped back for a potential game winning TD, Torkelson knocked the ball out of Russ’ hand and pounced on the ball. The refs ruled it a fumble. Russ still disagrees.

The two still maintain a friendship by way of a mutual friend (and former Wolverine) John Balourdos. They all get together in Chicago when Michigan invades Ryan Field every couple years.

*********************

At this point, it appeared the dust had settled from the shake up at QB. The defense pitched a shutout and we were back in the rankings at 4-2 heading into the second half of the season. Unfortunately, it would not go well. You know the story. 6-6. Blah Blah Blah.

After matriculating from the University of Michigan, Russ furthered his education with master’s degrees in Health Administration and Business Administration. After working in St Louis for Barnes Hospital, he moved to Minnesota and began working for the Mayo Clinic. He’s been there 25 years and is currently the Administrator for the Department of Cardiology. And like that feeling he got at Michigan as a recruit when he met all those ophthalmologists, Russ feels equally grateful for the opportunity to surrounded himself with legends in medicine and wonderful people who are committed to a common goal of helping other people.

Russ is married to Janet, whom he met at Michigan. Monte Robbins (former punter from Kansas) and Russ were sitting in a Linguistics class when he noticed a smart, beautiful co-ed sitting at the other end of the room. He couldn’t stop looking her way. When the class met again, Russ looked over to the same side of the room but to his chagrin, she wasn’t there. Monte leaned over and said, “she’s sitting behind you.” A few years later, she’d be standing right next to him.

In 1991, the pretty girl from the Linguistics class became Mrs. Russell Rein. They have two children: Sarah is a senior at the University of Minnesota, and JT is a freshman at the University of Utah.

FIRST: Michigan started pretty well getting into the attacking zone and drawing a penalty about four minutes into the game. They got into the the lower slot and crease a few different times but were not able to convert on those opportunities. The goal came from De Jong from the point via a screen by Adam Winborg. It was also just after their power play chance had expired. That was about it, though. They ended up with 5 even strength attempts. That's not too good.

SECOND: Michigan's 5v5 offense created their second goal of the night. Evan Allen won a bottle along the boards and worked a couple passes with Piazza at the point, who slid over to shoot from nearer the center of the blue line. Kile got a great screen and tipped the puck as it went by to give M a 2-1 lead. The goal was reviewed for interference but Kile did not make enough contact with Minney and looked to be just out of the crease. Kile also rode in on a 2v0 with Shuart, elected to shoot, and Minney denied him. Michigan ended up with 14 even strength attempts at the net, including 3-4 from 'home plate.' Better, I suppose.

THIRD/OT: Michigan generated 14 attempts in the third and 2 more in OT. That's...ok. Only four came from 'home plate.' Most of the attempts were from odd angles or from distance. So, unfortunately, still not great offense. Lockwood got in pretty close once but not much else overly threatening. Their best looks came from the man advantage and they were not finished.

DEFENSE

FIRST: Michigan's defense was typical. The goal they gave up was losing a 1v1 battled on the boards followed by Luce getting beat by Pavelek in front of the net to get an uncontested shot off past Nagelvoort. It was similar to last night's goals. Michigan also surrendered 20 even strength attempts on net. Nine of those came from inside 'home plate.' Different night, same issues.

SECOND: Michigan gave up 15 attempts at their net, 7 of which came from 'home plate.' Four of those came from just outside the crease, though. They did not give up a goal in a full period for the first time since the GLI (I think). So, that's a good thing. Most of that was due to Nagelvoort, though. Small steps, I guess.

THIRD/OT: Nagelvoort faced three shots (one of them being 50/50 illegal) and saved the definite two shots. MSU got five (three more in OT) even strength attempts in the third. That's very good! Possibly M's best defensive period of the year? The one thing (because there is always a thing) was that on the goal -which was on the PP but this relates to defense- there were two attackers behind the last defenseman. One of them hit the puck near the crossbar past Nagelvoort. Even on the powerplay...still unmarked dudes in the crease.

SPECIAL TEAMS

FIRST: Michigan drew one penalty in and nearly cashed in on it. They were able to score about 4 seconds after the penalty expired, so technically it was not a PPG, but it was also before the defense could be reset with their equalizing player. So, not a power play goal...but kinda still a power play goal. Dancs took a tripping penalty towards the end of the first that will carry over to the second. MSU created a couple a good looks but no conversion, yet.

SECOND: Michigan did not draw a penalty in the second period. They did take two, however, and killed them both off. Nagelvoort played a large role in one of those. He's looking fantastic.

THIRD: Michigan drew two penalties in the third period. Dancs had a great cross-crease pass that was just out of Kile's reach. Kile had a wide open net. That was about it for power play good looks. Cooper Marody took a terrible penalty behind the Spartan net that ultimately led to MSU's tying goal. The goal was flipped in the high slot and hit a Spartan stick up near the crossbar. It looked to about even with the crossbar and the goal was uphelf after a review. Nagelvoort had zero chance. The issue is that the penalty taken was not even close to necessary and there is a great chance this game does not reach OT without it.

OT: M took a penalty, but it was an intelligent one. They killed it with a couple nice saves from Nagelvoort.

GOALTENDING

FIRST: Zach Nagelvoort started in goal, and he looked very good, including making a couple of great saves. State created a great opportunity with two dynamic cross-ice passes that got an attacker alone in the lower slot. Nagelvoort was up to the challenge. He also made a couple very good stops on MSU's power play. He ended up with eight saves. The goal was on the defense, as Luce lost his man in front of the crease.

SECOND: Another top notch period for Nagelvoort in net. Zach was everywhere. There was one stretch early on where he must have made about 4-5 saves in about 10-15 seconds...and from close range, too. He also held his posts well and denied a couple more opportunities, there. Nagelvoort also was ready for a very bad DZTO at the blue line and stopped another Spartan snipe. He's been in great position all night. Up to 21 saves, so far.

THIRD: Nagelvoort didn't have much to do in the third. He stopped two of the three shots that he saw. He had no chance on the goal, as it was deflected about a few feet in front of him and was 50/50 hit with a high stick. Fantastic night for Zach. Its really crazy how well all three goalies are playing.

OT/SO: NOPE. Nothing. Stopped three more shots...then three more in the shootout. Good stuff, Zach.

ODD MAN RUSHES

FIRST: Michigan State has two 3v2s. The first was non-threatening with the puck not getting near Nagelvoort via a deflection. The second freed a shooter just inside Nagelvoort's left faceoff dot. Zach was able to deny the opportunity.

SECOND: I had zero OMRs in the second period.

THIRD: No OMRS.

OT: An almost 2v1 but Boka took the 2nd guy down (with no call), so it became a 1v1. De Jong then took him down and was called for a penalty that Michgan killed.

(Bill Rapai) Checking a guy AFTER the puck is in the net does not count as 'marking'

OFFENSE

FIRST: Michigan's offense started rather slowly, getting outshot 10-3 after the 10:00 mark, but they finally started getting more attempts in on Minney as the period ticked on. They ended up getting 17 attempts, though only two would come from inside the dangerous 'home plate' area. This would be a classic "the numbers are there but the eye test didn't really back it up." But...a period Coris win is good? Now...onto the fatefully dreaded second.

SECOND: Michigan generated 14 looks at the net. Again, the number is marginally acceptable, but the locations of most of these attempts are not very dangerous. I counted three attempts from 'home plate.' Not great, Bob. Not against a team that has four victories coming into tonight's game. They manufactured more and better looks on special teams...but, like, that's what you're supposed to do. I guess better than previous 2nd periods?

THIRD: Ok, so New Hildebrand was fantastic tonight and definitely stole multiple goals from Michigan. Michigan still only got off 13 attempts at the net in the 3rd. They had 8 from the 'home plate' area. That's not awful but not great, either. Boka made a CRAZY pass from the left corner to a wide open Lockwood who was stoned by New Hildebrand only to have the puck fall to an even more open Marody who literally missed an open net from the slot. Apropos.

DEFENSE

FIRST: After getting being swarmed and dominated in the first 8-10 minutes, Michigan's defense settled down and started to get on the same page. MSU had a few great looks on the power play and another couple decent chances 5v5, but most of their chances came from outside the dots...mainly from each point. The number was too high (16) for me, but the location was tolerable. That being said, those first few minutes were bad. It took a couple shifts to get the puck into the defensive end a couple times. Also, still too many TOs at their own blue line. Lastly, please, PLEASE, start hitting dudes when they are withing a stick-length of the crease.

SECOND: Bad. State got 25 attempts 5v5 attempts at the net. Also, the goal was a 2v2 rush that one defender was beaten along the boards and a 2nd was beaten into the slot. The 2nd Spartan tapped the puck past JLF with no annoyance from a defender. I mean...I guess this is just expected, now. Probably should have been sooner. I have 8 attempts inside 'home plate.' Also, a quite a few just outside to JLF's left (6 to be exact). Blah.

THIRD: Statistically speaking, Michigan's defense played well. Only 8 attempts on even strength. However, MSU had a lead and was not pressing for more. Again, though, as the puck was carried into the left corner, four Wolverines drifted in that direction leaving yet another open attacker in the low slot. And he scored. Becuase he should when unchecked in that position. All 3 goals were like that, tonight. Nothing new to see here. Move along.

SPECIAL TEAMS

FIRST: Michigan took one penalty and MSU scored on it. After a shot from the point went wide, JLF lunged to his left and deflected the 2nd chance but it trickled over him to the top of the crease where a waiting Spartan put down his lemonade and tapped in a power play goal. No one was near him, let alone harassing him. Sigh. Michigan did not have a power play opportunity.

SECOND: Michigan had two man advantages in the 2nd period. The first went as well as possible without netting a goal. They moved the puck well and had to have at least 4-5 very good looks at the net but New Hildebrand was up to each and every one. Kile was flat-out robbed twice. The second opportunity did not go as well. They generated some zone time but not many very enticing looks. Michigan is 0/2 so far. M gave up a couple man advantages, but State could could not convert on those, either. M's PK looked fine but not great.

THIRD: Michigan took another penalty and killed it off. Only three penalties on the night. That will do. Continue that trend, please. Michigan also drew three penalties in the third but did not score. They also did not register a shot on any of those power plays. Do not continue this trend, please. On the night, MSU: 1/3, M: 0/4

GOALTENDING

FIRST: Jack LaFontaine started in goal and had a very nice first period. The lone goal to beat him came on the power play from an unchecked dude in the crease. He also stopped the first attempt. So, like, whatever, man. Other than that, he stopped eleven shots and looked in control of where he wanted to put the puck. He did not play last weekend in Minnesota, but he's holding up the trend of strong netminding by Michigan goaltenders, lately.

SECOND: Once again, JLF had a very nice period, stopping 13 more shots. Unfortunately, Michigan's defense was a little more lax in this period and JLF had to defend from a lot shorter distance. He stood strong though, not giving up many rebounds and making athletic saves on at least a couple should-have-been goals. He's definietly done his job to hold down the fort, but at some point, everyone else is going to have to relieve the pressure...hopefully.

THIRD: See the previous couple paragraphs. JLF didn't have as much to do, but he made the couple that he saw, except for: Another open attacker in the low slot. This time, I think he got a piece of it but couldn't grab it. It bounced between his glove, his body, and the post before entering the net. I blame him for 0 of the 3 goals. I used to be upset when Michigan lost hockey games. It was just behind Football in my Emotional Rollercoaster. But...man...the last few years and then this year. Its is just hard to expect anything but a rough loss, anymore. That makes me the most upset.

ODD MAN RUSHES

FIRST: There was AN almost 3v2 for State. It was borderline and nothing really came of it, so...eh. That's it.

These days you can’t open your web browser without finding a discussion of the paranoia that awaits our fellow citizens in 2017……and by that I mean the Michigan offensive line depth chart. (No politics!) The dire nature of this situation really struck me this week after I saw the following things pop up on my favorite Michigan blogs:

Touch the Banner posted about the fate of every OL recruit for the past several years. In that piece and also in the comments there were discussions about what went wrong.

Then over at 247 you hear about the minimal chance of Newsome making it back on the field this year, robbing Michigan of its only true LT on the roster and some valuable experience.

That results in Brian speculating that we’re in for a Bredeson/Kugler/Cole/Onwenu/??? starting five who are backed up with freshmen and guys that have never seen the field.

On top of that, in his “This week in MGoBlog History” piece Maize.Blue Wagner links to a post-Rose Bowl breakdown from Brian in 2007 that talks about the offensive line being the weak link on the team that USC was able to exploit.

Think about that for a moment. A full decade ago this very blog was wringing their hands about how our offensive line performance and recruiting had declined to become the weak link on the team. That was under late-era Lloyd Carr. How are we STILL talking about this ten years later???

To help put this in perspective, Michigan had three OL drafted in 2001 in the first 43 picks – Hutchinson, Backus, and Williams. All of those players went on to have long and productive NFL careers. In the 15 drafts since then, here are the draft picks from the OL position:

2004 - Tony Pape #221 (never really played)

2005 – David Baas #33 (solid NFL career)

2008 – Jake Long #1 (solid, if short NFL career)

2011 – Stephen Schilling #201 (brief NFL career)

2012 – David Molk #226 (brief NFL career)

2014 – Tayor Lewan #11 (off to a good start)

2014 – Michael Schofield #95 (too soon to tell)

2016 – Graham Glasgow #95 (too soon to tell)

So it took 15 years for Michigan to match the number of top picks that they had in 2001 and of the guys on that list there isn’t a single one that could match the careers of those guys from 2001 (pending the outcome of the young guys). Wow. Besides a few glimmers of hope during the Rodriguez and Hoke era we continue to find ourselves terrified of the depth chart and development of our OL headed into Harbaugh’s third year with the program, a full 15 years later.

Based on the links above, I set about trying to figure out WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN with our 2017 depth chart. I say “should” instead of “could” to make a specific distinction. Things like injuries and off-field issues are completely unpredictable and in an ideal utopia they SHOULD not happen. Things like “Kyle Kalis is the most sure thing OL prospect and will be awesome” COULD have happened, but it didn’t despite being healthy and available his entire career. In other words, what COULD have happened was for some of the recruits to be the studs we thought these past few years and we’d be entering a season with Kugler, Dawson, and other upper classmen dominating on the line. Likewise, we COULD have recruited Ethan Pocic or another star, but it didn’t happen.

Let’s instead look at more of the “fate” side of things and look at what the line SHOULD look like if all of the pieces fell in place due to things outside of the team’s control.

Left Tackle –

Projected Starter = Ben Bredeson (So, 0.5 years experience)

Should-be Starter = Grant Newsome (Jr, 1.0 years experience)

Comment = This assumes Newsome didn’t get the gruesome injury and would be entering his second year as a starter as a true left tackle prospect.

Left Guard –

Projected Starter = Kugler (Sr, 0.0 years experience)

Should-be Starter = Kyle Bosch (Sr, 2.5 years experience)

Comment = Bosch left the team for off-field issues but turned into an all-B12 performer for WVU this past season. Had he worked things out at Michigan he would be entering 2017 as probably our best offensive lineman.

Center –

Projected Starter = Mason Cole (Jr, 2.0 years experience)

Should-be Starter = Mason Cole

Comment = Instead of partnering with Bosch to form a dominating pair of experienced upperclassmen, he’s the lone experienced starter on the line and has to be a star for us to have any hope of holding this together.

Right Guard –

Projected Starter = Michael Onwenu (So, 0.0 years experience)

Should-be Starter = Bredeson/Kugler/Onwenu

Comment = This gets a little tricky, but is actually a luxury. By having the other four positions locked down in this fictional universe, the RG spot becomes a free-for-all between the veteran Kugler and two top prospects coming off of their red-shirt years. The likely pick is Bredeson based on what we know. This has the added side effect that Onwenu could move to NT for a season to fill that void since he isn’t needed on the OL.

Right Tackle –

Projected Starter = Uh…..Nolan Ulizio? (RFr, 0.0 years experience)

Should-Be Starter = Logan Tulley-Tillman (Sr,1.0 years experience)

Comment = LTT got into trouble and found himself off the team instead of being in line to be the starter at RT next year. He may have beaten out Newsome in 2016 had he not been stupid. He probably was not projected to be a star, but he at least projected to be a solid veteran starter.

There you have it. Brian’s projected line has three first-year starters, just 2.5 years of starting experience, and a guy playing out of position in Bredeson. In our ideal world situation, we have just one first-year starter that will emerge from a good battle, a healthy 6.5 years of starting experience, no one out of position, redshirts on all of the freshmen, and Onwenu available to play back-up NT.

While we know that OL projections from high school to college are probably the least accurate of any position, physical development is a wild-card, and coaching is critical……the conclusion from this analysis is that fate is also a bitch. This is why you always want 4-5 recruits in every class because you never know what will happen. Let’s hope Harbaugh and Drevno can work some magic this off-season with these guys.

7:52 AM. So you're walking down this parade route in front of people who have been dourly camped out waiting for something to watch for hours, possibly days. They watch you, and if they're USC fans they shout something like "WOOOO USC" and since it's really early in the morning and you feel silly because you thought California was much warmer at 6AM and you've spent the first hour of your day trudging from Rose Bowl to Rose Parade, your mood is black black black. The prospect of doing all this to sit down and watch a parade conjures up memories of boredoms past and generally ruins your day.

January 5 - Friday

Brief thoughts on the game. Henne played pretty well, the defense performed adequately, but the OL gave up pressure all afternoon. It was very reminiscent of 2004. Should Carr be fired? No. Should Andy Moeller be fired? Maybe.

A recap of a couple rumors. Ryan Mundy will not be returning for the 5th year. Rumors persist that Andy Moeller will not return as OL coach. Instead it is said he might be joining new Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh.

January 12 - Friday

Unverified Voracity Sterilizes the BCS. Ryan Mallett, Vince Helmuth, Austin Panter, and Artis Chambers are early enrollees. I bet that will help their Michigan career. Also, Colt Brennan won the Maxwell pundit award. Brian is not pleased.

January 15 - Monday

Michigan sports has a rough weekend. The hockey team is struggling, the hockey team is falling apart, and IN S Jerimy Finch decommitted to go to Indiana. Not ideal.

January 16 - Tuesday

Mailbag with topics covering opponents and the ‘M’ bye week, Zoltan Mesko reading MGoBlog, and Lloyd’s perceived jet lag problems, i.e. the inability to win games west of the Mississippi.

Yes. That's exactly what Michigan State needs: more focus on the Michigan game to the exclusion of everything else on the schedule. Just in case they were ever thinking of winning a game after it ever again.

Query: what should this clock be labeled? ("Countdown to Disappointment" was a submission from the Victors, por ejemplo.)

The final preview review as Brian looks at his Big Ten previews from the summer. This was from the top of the conference and also represents his biggest miss. He had Iowa #2 in the country and going to the Rose Bowl; they finished 6-6.

So... yeah, Finch. Even with a hypothetical RoJo commit he would have been easily the third best recruit in the class. His loss moves the class a fair chunk of the way from "disappointing" to "outright disaster." No RoJo == outright disaster, on a par with the 2000 class. If we do get him, we'll have addressed the crying needs at QB and CB from last year's excellent class and shouldn't have a Willingham-esque gap between quality recruits that's going to hammer Notre Dame's lines next year. (Other than the current gap at cornerback that's already hammering us.) There will be a lot of pressure on the Michigan staff to put together a 2008 class on a par with the 2006 group -- one bad recruiting class won't kill you but two in a row will cause problems.

January 22 - Monday

Hockey update. This past weekend was markedly improved on the previous one. Brian asserts that TJ Hensick might be the best player he’s seen at Michigan, outside of maybe Mike Comrie.

Unverified Voracity Moves On. There’s a link to Boubacar Cissoko’s Myspace page. The link no longer goes to his Myspace page. Also, there is a rumor that Ryan Munday will go to Pitt. This is possible because of a new rule that allows a player with an undergraduate degree to transfer without penalty.

At this point there is nearly a month long gap in posts on the current site. From here on we will switch to the old Blogspot site.

January 29 - Monday

Recruiting Board Update. Illinois commit Ronaldo Sagesse is a new name that has popped up as a possible add before signing day. Rashad Mason is a possibility at WR. Ronald Johnson made a trip to Florida, and the fear in his recruitment is starting to amp up.

The Detroit News is exploring who will Michigan’s 12th opponent in the upcoming season. This post has a great deal of sad irony as Brian refers to “Christian-Lion” matchups. At least that’s what the first game of the upcoming season is supposed to be. Brian will still go though.

There's no way around it: I'm a sap. A mark. A rube. The dirty Victorian era ne'er-do-wells in the athletic department have entwined me in a confidence scheme. (They call me "guv'nor" to my face, though.)

January 30 - Tuesday

Unverified Voracity Puzzled by Puzzlement. Some early speculation on who could replace Amacker. Billy Gillespie, Mike Montgomery, and Tubby Smith are a few of the names mentioned. Also, Vanderbilt won’t be Michigan’s opening opponent.

A Dark Horse Emerges

Since joining the Big Ten for the 2014-15 season, Maryland has been one of the best programs in the conference, posting an impressive 30-11 record in league games and finishing in the top three in both seasons that have been completed with the Terrapins as a member. Despite losing four starters before this season, UMD is the surprising outright leader of the Big Ten early on this season (it’s worth noting that Wisconsin is tied in the loss column, but has played one less game than Maryland has). Non-conference play offered little indication that Maryland would get off to such a hot start; they barely beat a couple of bad teams and won three games against decent opponents by just a single point.

Melo Trimble has been a huge part of Maryland’s success, of course - although his offensive rating (92.9) and usage rate (30.7, third-highest among B1G players in conference play) likely aren’t sustainable. Freshman Anthony Cowan, who was correctly compared to Trimble often as a recruit, has arguably been better, as he’s been able to score at the rim and get frequent trips to the free throw line despite his lack of size. Another freshman - Kevin Huerter - has also excelled, shooting an impressive 46% from behind the arc with 13 made threes in five conference games. Damonte Dodd, a senior big man coming off of an injury-related absence, has been the cornerstone of Maryland’s excellent defense when he’s been on the floor; Ivan Bender and LG Gil also receive minutes at the five.

It’s difficult to assess how much of Maryland’s early success in Big Ten play is schedule-related: they’ve swept a mediocre Illinois team, beat Indiana at home in what was essentially a coin-flip game, and won on the road against Michigan. Their only loss came after blowing a double-digit lead late at home against Nebraska. While their remaining schedule is relatively unchallenging compared to those of other teams, it’s probably more difficult than the games they’ve already played. Kenpom has Maryland just inside the top 50 nationally - a far cry from the quality of supposed Big Ten title contenders. A lot of that is due to their non-conference schedule, which resulted in a lot of wins that weren’t well-regarded by his algorithm.

Whether or not the Terps regress to the mean will be a major storyline. Many people (including myself) have been predicting that regression for quite a while, only to see Maryland continue to put up wins on the floor. Since they’ve been so dominant since entering the Big Ten, there’s good reason to think that they might continue to flaunt statistical wisdom, despite their youth. Maryland’s an undeniably talented team and having an excellent point guard helps bring everything together.